BLESSED MARIA CANDIDA OF THE EUCHARIST
Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist was born in 1884 and grew up in Palermo, Sicily where her father served as a judge. She wanted to begin religious life at the age of fifteen, but had to wait twenty years. After her entrance and formation in the Carmel of Ragusa, she was elected prioress. She worked to revive the spirit of St. Teresa of Avila in her community. Under her leadership the community grew enough to make a foundation in Syracuse. She also helped to bring the Carmelite friars back to Sicily. But she is best known for her many writings on the Holy Eucharist and Mary: " I want to be like Mary . . . . to be Mary for Jesus, to take the place of His Mother. When I receive Jesus in Communion, Mary is always present. I want to receive Jesus from her hands, she must make me one with him. I cannot separate Mary from Jesus. Hail, O Body born of Mary! Hail Mary, dawn of the Eucharist!"
"To contemplate with deep faith our Beloved in the Sacrament, to live with Him Who comes to us every day, to remain with Him in the depths of our hearts, this is our life! The more intense this intimate life is the more we will be Carmelites and make progress in perfection. This contact, this union with Jesus is everything: what fruits of virtue will come from it! You must have this experience. To live with Jesus and to live by His virtues, is to listen to His beautiful voice, to His most loving wish and immediately obey it, to please quickly Him. Our eyes close, longing to find Him again, to contemplate Him in the depths of our hearts: is this not the reason why He gives us Holy Communion in the morning? Is it not the attraction for Him that remains in the Blessed Sacrament, where He lives? I do not know how to separate the ciborium in the sacred Tabernacle from the ciborium in our hearts! Oh how many times, even though we are in the choir, before His sacred Presence, at times exposed, we experience the great with our Jesus need to go deeply into ourselves, and there rediscover and remain! What mystery of love is this intimacy with our Beloved! I reflect on this, sometimes with emotion, and give praise to Him Who is Love! And with tears I contemplate this intimacy. Everything here on this earth is nothing for us, withdrawn as we are, far from Him Who loved us so much; our eyes no longer see anything: and even though we close them again to lose ourselves from the same sacred environment, we close them anxious to find Him again, to see Jesus! The most delightful Mystery of Love! He allows Himself to be found by the heart that searches for Him, by the soul that knows how to do without many things for love of Him. To be close to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, like the Saints in Heaven, who contemplate the supreme Good, is what we must do, according to our Holy Mother Teresa. Seven times a day, we come together around the throne (of our Good God), the sacred Tabernacle, reciting the divine praises: oh how much faith merits such lofty activity, what dying to self! May adoration and love accompany and beautify everything!”(from her book Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality) [from her book Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality]
After serving as prioress until 1947, Mother Maria Candida died on June 12, 1949. She was beatified by Saint Pope John Paul II in 2004.
Blessed Maria Candida of the Eucharist was born in 1884 and grew up in Palermo, Sicily where her father served as a judge. She wanted to begin religious life at the age of fifteen, but had to wait twenty years. After her entrance and formation in the Carmel of Ragusa, she was elected prioress. She worked to revive the spirit of St. Teresa of Avila in her community. Under her leadership the community grew enough to make a foundation in Syracuse. She also helped to bring the Carmelite friars back to Sicily. But she is best known for her many writings on the Holy Eucharist and Mary: " I want to be like Mary . . . . to be Mary for Jesus, to take the place of His Mother. When I receive Jesus in Communion, Mary is always present. I want to receive Jesus from her hands, she must make me one with him. I cannot separate Mary from Jesus. Hail, O Body born of Mary! Hail Mary, dawn of the Eucharist!"
"To contemplate with deep faith our Beloved in the Sacrament, to live with Him Who comes to us every day, to remain with Him in the depths of our hearts, this is our life! The more intense this intimate life is the more we will be Carmelites and make progress in perfection. This contact, this union with Jesus is everything: what fruits of virtue will come from it! You must have this experience. To live with Jesus and to live by His virtues, is to listen to His beautiful voice, to His most loving wish and immediately obey it, to please quickly Him. Our eyes close, longing to find Him again, to contemplate Him in the depths of our hearts: is this not the reason why He gives us Holy Communion in the morning? Is it not the attraction for Him that remains in the Blessed Sacrament, where He lives? I do not know how to separate the ciborium in the sacred Tabernacle from the ciborium in our hearts! Oh how many times, even though we are in the choir, before His sacred Presence, at times exposed, we experience the great with our Jesus need to go deeply into ourselves, and there rediscover and remain! What mystery of love is this intimacy with our Beloved! I reflect on this, sometimes with emotion, and give praise to Him Who is Love! And with tears I contemplate this intimacy. Everything here on this earth is nothing for us, withdrawn as we are, far from Him Who loved us so much; our eyes no longer see anything: and even though we close them again to lose ourselves from the same sacred environment, we close them anxious to find Him again, to see Jesus! The most delightful Mystery of Love! He allows Himself to be found by the heart that searches for Him, by the soul that knows how to do without many things for love of Him. To be close to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, like the Saints in Heaven, who contemplate the supreme Good, is what we must do, according to our Holy Mother Teresa. Seven times a day, we come together around the throne (of our Good God), the sacred Tabernacle, reciting the divine praises: oh how much faith merits such lofty activity, what dying to self! May adoration and love accompany and beautify everything!”(from her book Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality) [from her book Eucharist: True Jewel of Eucharistic Spirituality]
After serving as prioress until 1947, Mother Maria Candida died on June 12, 1949. She was beatified by Saint Pope John Paul II in 2004.